The effects of adult behaviours on increasing language delayed children's production of early relational meanings

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Abstract
This intervention study examined the influence of adult behaviours on the emerging productive abilities of two language delayed preschoolers. In order to maximize the probability of isolating differential treatment effects, three different treatment strategies were designed that systematically manipulated particular adult antecedent and consequent events. Examination of treatment data indicated that the teaching strategies were not differentially effective in increasing the frequency with which the children encoded two‐term target relations. Linear regression analyses, however, revealed the existence of specific time periods in which rapid rates of production were observed for both children. This outcome is discussed with respect to the timing of early intervention and specific child variables that may reflect a readiness for acquiring early linguistic behaviours.